Language

 This little blog is in response to a surprising request from my Granddaughter Christina. She had decided to study the Czech language which took her to St. Charles University in Prague - which took her to studying a small ethic group which is some places are called “the Sorbs”, but which I had always called the Wends. I was among their tribe. Christina wondered how the transitioning was made in the USA from speaking Wendish to German to English.

I made only that last transition. In my early years we spoke German almost exclusively in my home. Most importantly we went to German language church services. We prayed in German. I remember the old gentleman who insisted that God spoke German and he quoted the Genesis passage where God is specifically quoted as speaking in German as God said, “Adam vo bist du?”

I recall that at one point my sisters and I made a conscious, much talked about decision to begin to speak more English. We decided to begin by calling our father by the title of “daddy” having decided that the traditional “papa” was too German and old fashioned.

By that time (in the early 30”s) the Wends who had moved to Texas in the 1850”s had already pretty well made the transition from Wendish to German. That was very understandable. The Wends were already a minority in their native Germany. When they emigrated to America they settled among Germans who were a minority among English speaking settlers. So the transition was made early, although I recall my Father telling me that a Wendish newspaper was still being published while I was a young boy.

World realties also made a difference. In World War I days it was considered by some to be unpatriotic to speak German so English was introduced. However, it wasn’t until World War II that the real push for “English only” became pronounced. I recall a couple incidents from around that time. The first is my father listening on short wave radio to Adolph Hitler with his rants about ethic cleansing and the superiority of the German race. Even though Dad was proud of his ethic background he was alarmed at the prejudice, hatred and arrogance of Adolph Hitler. As a demonstration of where our loyalties deeply lay we spoke more English.

But the transition was also met with resistance, especially in the church. I recall that the Lutheran church had suggested a hymn to be sung each Sunday asking for God’s blessing on our country and guidance for our service people. The song was in English and it was decided to sing it at the close of each Sunday services (which were still conducted in German). The proposal met with strong opposition from a small minority who demonstrated their position by very obviously walking out of the church each Sunday just as that English language hymn began to be sung.

The loyalty of the sons of that congregation to the USA was never doubted. I recall my father  (who was principal of the Lutheran parochial school) writing letter after letter to military officers who asked for his verification of both the loyalty and the proficiency in German of the GIs and sailors. Dad always vouched for that and many of them played significant roles as translators from German to English for our military forces.

In my early elementary school years 1933 to 1941 religion was taught in German. We all learned to read German alongside English. When my grandparents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary I was selected to recite an eloquent dedicatory poem in German.

Meanwhile I never heard anyone speak Wendish unless we went to Serbin Texas where the Wends first settled and which maintained worship services in Wendish until very recently.

Now I have lost most of my German. I found that when I studied to speak Cantonese I would occasionally mix German with Cantonese. Now when I return to Germany it takes a few days to get reacquainted enough to converse in German. And I do not speak a single word of Wendish.